The Spider is a new remotely controlled short-range air defense system designed and developed by the Slovenian company Valhalla in collaboration with the United Arab Emirates defense industry, Golden Group. The Spider weapon station configured for combat vehicle was unveiled in February 2019 during IDEX the international defense exhibition in UAE.
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Spider 57mm short-range air defense system in the ground configuration. (Picture source Valhalla company)
The 57mm RCWS (Remote Controlled Weapon Station) Spider can be mounted on combat vehicles or used as ground weapon station fitted on a container that can be easily and quickly deployed on the battlefield. In firing position, four spades are hydraulically lowered on the ground to provide a more stable firing platform.
In ground configuration, the Spider RCWS has a length of 7 m a height of 2.5 m maximum. The turret has a weight of 5,000 kg, a traverse of 360° and elevation from -20° to +70°. In vehicle configuration the turret will have a weight of 3.850 kg. The turret can be protected up to Level 3 STANAG 4569 against the firing of small arms 7.62mm or 155mm artillery shell splinters.
The main armament of Spider RCWS is based on the old Soviet-made S-60 57mm anti-aircraft gun but fitted with a new link belt feed system. The original gun was with four-round clips. A total of 92 ammunition are available inside the combat module. Two types of ammunition can be fire by the modernized version of the S-60 including the OR-281U High Explosive Traced (HEI) Ammunition and the BR-281 armor-piercing tracer (APC-T) able to penetrate 96 mm of armour at 1,000 m. It has a maximum firing range of 6,000 m. The gun can be used against aerial targets as well as ground targets
The second armament of the Spider RCWS includes one 14.5mm KPVT heavy machine gun mounted to the right of the main armament. It can be used to engage light armored vehicles, fire weapons and manpower located behind light shelters, as well as low-flying air targets. The KPVT is able to fire B32 armor-piercing incendiary bullet, BZT armor-piercing tracer bullet and MDZ instant-action incendiary bullet. The maximum firing range against air targets is 2,000 m and 1,500 m against ground targets.
On each side of the turret is mounted one 70mm rocket launcher pod able to launch unguided and guided rockets. The rockets are used to perform various roles, including anti-material, anti-personnel, air-to-ground suppression and illumination.
The turret is equipped with panoramic sight and laser range finder. When fitted with a radar system, it can detect aerial, naval or land threats. The threats detected by the radar are cued to the electro-optical system for identification and engagement with a detection range from 15 to 20 km.
Spider 57mm weapon station in a vehicle configuration. (Picture source Army Recognition)
